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entertaining u newspaper: your monthly guide to entertainment
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by johnny st. thomas
Drinking it up in the old city is like second nature to me. I tried to rally our crack team of professional drinkers to come and drink through St. Augustine with me, and the original plan was to go down to the haunted bars tour, but all of that fell apart. St. Augustine is a long drive and you can’t just go out there, get tanked and drive home, obviously. So you have to have a strategy. Fortunately I have family in St. Augustine. They probably think I’m a raging alcoholic since they only see me when I’m hungover on their couch, but I’m sure they’re learning to cope.
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Fortunately for you, there are plenty of inexpensive hotels in St. Augustine. Book a room at the Budget Inn on Anastasia Island and then spend the evening getting drunk enough that you don’t care where you sleep. I have a lot of favorite places to drink in St. A, but here are a couple that are right on the way to the new amphitheatre and one that is an absolute staple. Cheers!
Address or Directions: 116 St. George Street
Type of Place: THE St. Augustine bar
Serving: Full bar, great imported and domestic drafts.Atmosphere: A bar’s bar. It’s dirty, smoky, and dripping with loud, intoxicated, authentically St. Augustine charm.
Amenities: Some pinball games, and ATM, the loudest juke box in town and a scenic view of historic St. George Street.
Drink Specials: Their drinks are cheap and their cocktails are stiff.
This place earned its stripes as the best bar in St. Augustine. Many nights I’ve left this place certain that it was the best bar in the world, but those nights were followed by the worst hangovers in the history of drunks. Although their drinks are cheap, don’t be fooled, no matter how cheap they are it is easy to rack up a ridiculous tab after a couple rounds of Jager shots. And that’s a rule you can live by. As for St. George Tavern, the theme is confused in physical representation. There are coats of arms and medieval swords on the walls, but the décor is divided by the tie-dye tapestry, a biker bar subtext, and the usual honky beer neons. Nonetheless, you haven’t done St. Augustine until you’ve done the St. George Tavern.
Address or Directions: 213 Anastasia Blvd.
Type of Place: Exactly what the name states
Serving: Imported draft beers (plus Miller Lite and Yeungling), draft cider and all sorts of bottled beers. They also serve a delectable traditional sausage roll wrapped in a flaky pastry and scotch eggs.Atmosphere: It’s a delightful hole with walls coated in “football” jerseys and British memorabilia. Dave, the proprietor, makes every Yank feel like a fellow Brit.
Amenities: An Internet juke box, a dart board and a small stage for performers.
Drink Specials: Happy hour is Mon-Fri, 4- 7 pm. $6 pitchers during the game on Monday nights. Thursday nights, from 11-midnight, ladies drink free.
In a real British Publican House you can smoke cigarettes and drink a fine pint of Guinness. England’s favorite stout even named The British Pub the official location for the best Guinness in both 2006 and 2007. They have a friendly crowd that slouches over the bar and quips about the differences between America and St. Augustine over BBC America on the televisions (which was playing some hilarious British show called Top Gear). The regulars are an assortment of native St. Augustiners, people that drive from all over town and couples of all ages. Located on Anastasia Island, out-of-towners will pass it on the way home from the St. Augustine Amphitheatre. They also have delicious European chocolates.
Address or Directions: 10 Anastasia Blvd
Type of Place: Sports bar
Serving: Domestic draft beers and domestic and imported bottled beers with a full bar.Atmosphere: Sports bar all the way. Smoky, slightly intimidating and dirty as hell. Always.
Amenities: Several TVs (one big screen) pool tables, Internet juke box, a cigarette machine, some tabletop touch screen games and an outdoor patio.
Drink Specials: Specials on cocktails and beer change daily.
You know those people that put a sculpture of a scrotum heavy with testicles on the trailer hitch of their gigantic truck? They come here. Nobby’s is their sort of place. Every now and then you’ll come in and there will be a nice person at the bar eager to help you and you might even catch a good rock band, but most of the time the place smells like ancient cigarette smoke and beer farts. Their barrel bar and wood paneling is a quaint concept that they stopped keeping up years ago. But their beers are cheap and their cocktails are stiff if you tip well. So – yin and yang.
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